Important Links

Disclaimer

The individuals who post here work at SharedBook Inc. and SharedBook Ltd (collectively “SharedBook”). The opinions expressed here are their own and may not reflect the opinions of SharedBook. The information here is not guaranteed to be complete, correct or up-to-date and SharedBook does not warrant the reliability of any advice, opinion, statement of other information displayed here. SharedBook reserves the right to correct any errors or omissions on this blog and to remove any inappropriate comments within the scope of our User Agreement at any time without notice.

Smart Button

November 08, 2007

Recipes for Success

OK, so I like a good play on words. What can I say? And on this blog - I'm not alone.

Over the past few months Mor, Ann, and Ben have written a few entries about our Open API. Up until this past week, we have been eating our own cooking and adjusting the ingredients to get things just right. The fruits of our labor were our Blog2Print application and widget.

This past week represents a major step forward with our API - the launch of the AllRecipes.com Create-a-Cookbook. Based on the feedback we've received, there isn't any need for me to write about what a great product this is. Instead I want to point out HOW it was implemented.

This new book was built utilizing our API, and shows the flexibility of the application. And it takes full advantage of many of the features we first built to accommodate Blog2Print.

Take, for example, embedded photos. For each of the recipes, there is a spot for an accompanying image of the finished dish. The text for the details and ingredients print around the (right-aligned) image. Maybe this sounds simple, but what happens behind the scenes is rather complex. And the image itself is just a simple URL placed inside the text that is sent to our API.

We built this functionality using standard HTML formats and the examples of many blogs. Now that Blog2Print can handle this, the AllRecipes.com implementation was a snap.

Add a generous amount of our SharedBook core functions - like the auto creation of page numbers and the corresponding table of contents (what's a cookbook without an index of some kind?). Wrap it up with our customizable soft or hard cover (with your own personal photo) and you have a great pairing!

I expect we will thrill many chefs with a professional cookbook they build themselves. But I also think we will thrill many Webmasters who are looking for a simple way to implement a SharedBook from their site's content.